After the college entrance examination, life began to follow one's heart

Chapter 162 The difference between a girlfriend and a sister, and the status of the eight apprentices' new song.
Sunday evening at 8:00 PM.

Liu Yang and the other eight people released their songs at the same time.

But as a newcomer, he was destined not to gain much popularity.

There's an old saying that goes, "Good wine needs no bush," and another that goes, "Gold will always shine."

These words certainly have some merit, but they are mostly meant to comfort.

The eight newcomers, including Liu Yang, have no existing fan base and therefore no significant online traffic.

In China, countless people write songs and upload them to various music platforms every day. The song library is already vast, so it's really not easy to stand out.

In the era of internet traffic, it's hard to say how some songs become popular. Some popular songs become popular on short videos for a while, just like a certain trend that becomes popular for no apparent reason, lasts for a period of time and then disappears, and then another trend comes along. Some popular songs are like that.

Sometimes, whether a song becomes popular or not is a matter of fate. After all, even catchy pop songs have a chance to become popular, which is why many popular new songs are criticized these days.

It's not necessarily true that a good song will become a hit; in this era of internet traffic, anything can happen.

Xu Lin couldn't wait for Liu Yang and the other eight to ferment on their own, otherwise the time cost would be too high, and it might even sink because of the long time.

In the era of traffic, the internet strategy has changed.

So at 9 p.m., Xu Lin returned to his dormitory and posted a new message on Xiaohongshu, saying that eight new artists under his management had released new songs and that everyone was welcome to listen.

Although Xu Lin wrote the lyrics and composed the music, he did not sing the song, so not everyone would specifically search for it to listen to.

However, there will always be a group of people who are interested, and these people curiously searched for and listened to it.

At the same time, Zhao Liangchen and Xie Ting also gave recommendations to the eight of them, which means that fellow disciples support each other.

As a result, even more people know these eight songs.

In this way, a foundation of traffic is established in the early stages. If the market response is good enough, those that are meant to rise will rise later.

Eight people, five love songs, one folk song, one non-love song about youth and campus life, and one inspirational song.

Because Xu Lin and Xie Ting gave recommendations, tens of thousands of netizens searched for and listened to the content. Xu Lin, in particular, has 13 million followers on Xiaohongshu, which is quite a large number. Even if only a small portion of people searched for it, the final number would likely start at 100,000.

Starting at 9:30 p.m., Liu Yang and the other eight friends began sending messages to Xu Lin one after another to share the good news. Many people came to listen to their songs, and most of the reviews were very positive, which made Liu Yang and the others very excited.

Take Liu Yang, for example. He used to be a bar singer, performing part-time at various bars in the city where he worked. He once released an original song on a whim, but it didn't take off. Now, seeing tens of thousands of people listening to his songs, it's no wonder he's so excited.

The other seven people were similar; they were all ordinary people, just passersby in real life, who had never received so much attention before.

In response, Xu Lin issued a unified notice in the small group: "Stay calm and take a closer look in a day or two."

After sending the message, Xu Lin switched back to his main account.

Just as he said, let's wait a day or two and see.

Then, around 11 p.m., Xia Xiyao sent a message.

"Xu Lin, I saw a well-known music appreciation blogger analyzing the eight songs you sang today!"

"Who?"

Xu Lin replied while playing the game.

Xia Xiyao: "This person has been paying attention to you all along, and he has analyzed every one of your songs."

Xia Xiyao also sent screenshots and links.

He's a music review and appreciation blogger on Weibo named Qu Xiaochen, and he has quite a few followers, over a million.
This blogger analyzed Xu Lin's first song, "Qu Guang," and has continued to follow up on it, giving Xu Lin a very high evaluation.

In addition, Xu Lin now has a total of fourteen songs, including his own five songs and nine songs he wrote for others.

Xu Lin was a little curious, so he clicked on the link and saw Qu Xiaochen's latest review article, which specifically analyzed the eight songs Xu Lin wrote for Liu Yang and the others.

"To begin, Mr. Xu is absolutely a great talent, and a musical prodigy! His songwriting, composition, and singing skills are all perfect. So, does anyone disagree with what I'm saying? The market has already given us the answer with the five songs that Mr. Xu wrote and sang himself. Each of his songs has caused a huge sensation in the music industry. I won't discuss that in detail here. You can read my previous articles for more information. Today, I'll mainly talk about the songs of his eight newly released apprentices."

To put it bluntly, these eight songs, in both lyrics and composition, continue Mr. Xu's signature style: anything produced by Mr. Xu is guaranteed to be a masterpiece! However, it's a bit of a shame that his eight apprentices today weren't quite up to par. I think it would have been better if Mr. Xu himself had sung them. On a side note, I'd like to specifically praise Mr. Xu; it seems he knows quite a few styles! Also, I especially loved the folk song "Grandma" sung by Xu Zilong today…

This song is actually a folk song created by Xu Lin, who tells stories about his childhood with his grandmother. It combines his oral experiences with the theme of family affection and homesickness. Therefore, the song has themes of family affection and homesickness. The overall style is delicate and emotional, sad but not tragic, and it is well worth appreciating.

Folk songs don't emphasize dramatic, overly forceful emotions; rather, they focus on a gentle, flowing, and profound meaning.

Among their eight new songs, this folk song is the most unique. After all, there are five other love songs that are too common and mainstream. The mainstream market is dominated by love songs. For singers, no matter if they are twenty years old or forty or fifty years old, most of their new songs are love songs because that's how the market is.

In his nearly 5,000-word article, Qu Xiaochen praised this folk song.

Xu Lin glanced at it and realized that Xiao Chen had a certain subjective opinion in mind; he personally thought this song was the best among the eight songs.

However, we'll have to wait for the market's feedback to see if this folk song will have the largest audience. It's hard to say. To each their own, and what you think doesn't necessarily reflect the market's opinion.

However, Qu Xiaochen also spoke quite well in other areas, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each of the eight people, including Liu Yang.

Xu Lin was aware of these advantages and disadvantages, having already clearly understood them during his training of them.

Regarding their shortcomings, Xu Lin didn't ask them to change or eliminate them. Xu Lin's idea was to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. For example, Yao Fangqian was a soprano, so Xu Lin let her develop in the soprano field, and other things were fine as they were.

There are very few sopranos in China, and indeed in the world, some of whom are quite famous.

Time comes the next day.

December 20th, and in the blink of an eye, another month is about to end. There are only eleven days left in 2025.

Xu Lin asked the Porsche Experience Center via WeChat this morning, and they said he could pick up his car in four days.

Meanwhile, as December draws to a close, Xu Lin's first semester of freshman year will also come to an end. The school's courses will end in two weeks, followed by a week of final exam review. After the exams on January 14, the summer vacation will officially begin.

Ning Yuhan is a sophomore, and her exam is three days earlier than Xu Lin's.

Time flew by and it was Tuesday afternoon again.

Tuesday afternoons, when there are no classes, are now all occupied by Rong Xiyan.

As soon as get out of class ended at noon, Rong Xiyan pulled Xu Lin away from the school.

In the afternoon, Rong Xiyan also had Xu Lin accompany her shopping. For girls, shopping is nothing more than cosmetics or clothes.

"You buy so many cosmetics, but I hardly ever use them."

Xu Lin couldn't help but say something.

Rong Xiyan bought a lot of lipsticks. Each lipstick was no bigger than a finger, but now she had a small box full of lipsticks at home, numbering over a hundred. Rong Xiyan hadn't used many of them, like a stamp collector.

I just love shopping!

She usually buys lipsticks, some of which cost several hundred yuan each, which is very expensive for the average girl. People might only buy a few a year, but Rong Xiyan could buy several without even spending a day's interest.

"Xu Lin, I want this lipstick, buy it for me now!"

Inside a cosmetics store, Rong Xiyan pointed to a lipstick.

"I can buy it for you."

Xu Lin said calmly, "Call me Dad..."

Before Xu Lin could finish speaking, he said, "Call me Dad and I'll buy it for you."

Rong Xiyan called out halfway through Xu Lin's speech, "Dad, hurry up and buy me some cosmetics!"

"Shabi!"

"Daddy!" Rong Xiyan said sweetly.

"Hey! Good boy!"

Xu Lin stopped arguing and bought her the lipstick.

The men and women in the store were a bit dumbfounded. Girls calling boys "daddy" was just something they did in private, a little playful banter. But now a very pretty girl was calling him that directly, which was a bit strange. However, the guys there couldn't help but feel envious. Damn, their girlfriends/wives had never done that!

Xu Lin and his group had no idea what others thought.

"Xu Lin, I want to get a new phone."

After leaving the cosmetics store, Rong Xiyan waved her phone in front of Xu Lin and said, "I've been using this phone for almost two years, and I want to get a new one."

Upon hearing this, Xu Lin immediately said, "First of all, I'm not buying you the phone."

"Tch, it's not like I'm short of money, I can buy my own. I just wanted to ask, how long have you been using your phone?"

"About three years."

Xu Lin wasn't particularly interested in mobile phones. His phone was bought for him by Ms. Ren when he was a freshman in high school. It was a flagship domestic phone at the time, costing several thousand yuan, and it's still very powerful.

"Then I'll give you a new phone, do you want it?"

"want!"

A cell phone? Why not take it if it's free!

The two went into a store selling the latest flagship phones from a domestic mobile phone brand. Xu Lin chose the black one, and Rong Xiyan chose the white one. They paired them up, and she said that would make them a couple's phone.

How many years have you been using your phone?

On a whim, Xu Lin sent a message to Ning Yuhan.

Ning Yuhan quickly replied, "More than five years."

"I'll buy you a new phone."

"Oh, no need, and my phone is still running smoothly."

Ning Yuhan didn't really want to spend Xu Lin's money, and sometimes she felt guilty about it, but Xu Lin would buy her things from time to time.

"I received my royalties yesterday. How am I supposed to spend them all if I don't spend money?"

"Then you don't need to buy anything too expensive."

"Ok."

Xu Lin went into another domestic mobile phone store next door because Ning Yuhan's laptop needed to be connected to the internet, and the phone needed to be compatible. "Didn't we just buy a phone?"

Rong Xiyan was curious.

"This is for my senior."

Xu Lin laughed and said, "How about you pay for me?"

"roll!"

Rong Xiyan's face immediately fell. "Damn it, how could I possibly spend money to support your woman?"

Xu Lin said regretfully, "That's so heartbreaking!"

"Pooh!"

Soon, Xu Lin finished buying the phone and put his arm around Rong Xiyan's shoulder.

"Now, are you family to me?" Xu Lin asked, leaning close to the other person's ear.

"Yes!"

"So you see, my mom has adopted you as her daughter, and now you're my sister. We're family, so we can't ask for too much. Besides, look, we'll go back together for Chinese New Year. My senior hasn't even visited yet."

"Scumbag!"

Rong Xiyan glared at Xu Lin fiercely, "New Year's Day is coming soon. You promised me that we would go see Mom on New Year's Day!"

"I'll drive there then!"

Xu Lin said, "I'll be picking up the car in a few days, and you'll be my first passenger then. Isn't that pretty impressive?"

"Did you buy a car?"

"Bought it, ready to pick it up, a Panamera GTS! Luxury car pick-up and drop-off!"

"Oh!"

However, upon hearing that she was the first passenger, Rong Xiyan asked, "So there's a second one?"

"Isn't she a senior student?"

"Humph!"

"Where else do you want to go? I'll spend some time with you as compensation."

"I want to go to the movies, but this time you're not allowed to fall asleep in the middle!"

Rong Xiyan emphasized, "You fell asleep in the movie theater both times before!"

"Movie theaters are so boring. How about we skip the movies and go to a private cinema instead?"

What is a private cinema?

This was the first time Rong Xiyan had ever heard of a private cinema.

An hour later, Xu Lin took her to a rather upscale private cinema.

Private cinemas come in cheap and expensive options. Cheap ones cost around a hundred dollars, while more expensive ones can cost over a thousand dollars.

There are even more expensive ones.

Xu Lin visited a private cinema this time; it cost 1,000 yuan for six hours.

"So this is what a private cinema is?"

After Rong Xiyan entered the room, she had a little eye-opening experience.

The movie screen is quite large, 100 inches, which is more than 2.2 meters long and more than 1.2 meters wide.

Right in front of you is a large, round bed. It's very comfortable and springy, much more so than the beds in most hotels.

The ceiling is a mirror, so when you look up, you can see everything on the bed.

It feels a bit weird.

Another point is that the bathroom is made of glass and is completely transparent.

On the other side, after locking the door, Xu Lin began to check for cameras. After confirming that there were none, Xu Lin took off his shirt.

"Hurry up and take off your clothes."

When Rong Xiyan saw Xu Lin taking off his clothes, she knew what he was going to do.

"Aren't we going to see a movie?" Rong Xiyan was taken aback.

"Who in their right mind would book a hotel room to watch a movie?"

Xu Lin asked, "But what movie do you want to watch? I'll pick it up for you."

“Titanic!” Rong Xiyan blurted out.

Do girls like watching this kind of thing?

Regardless of what others say, Xu Lin really doesn't like romance movies. To him, "Titanic" is worse than a poorly made, trashy horror film.

"No, this movie is too awful, let's watch something more exciting!"

"What's exciting?"

"You don't want to watch 'Titanic'? Then let's watch something with 'Titanic' in the title."

"Then what should we look at?"

Rong Xiyan thought Xu Lin wanted to watch some serious movie, and she had already started thinking about which movies had the word "Thai" in their titles.

As a result, Xu Lin activated Ultraman Taro!

"Taro!"

The Japanese theme song started playing soon after. Putting aside how absurd it is to book a room to watch Ultraman, the picture quality, which is from the last century, is even more outrageous.

Rong Xiyan: ...

"Xu Lin!"

She couldn't hold it anymore.

"A moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold!"

Xu Lin chuckled, quickly stripped off his clothes, went to the bed, pulled Rong Xiyan close, and kissed her passionately.

"Call me 'Dad' and let me hear it."

"father!"

"good."

"Xu Lin, you're the worst!"

"cut."

……

Five and a half hours passed quickly.

After Xu Lin and the others took a shower, Rong Xiyan quickly pulled Xu Lin away from there.

I had too much fun today. I wonder what kind of expression my aunt will have when she comes to clean the room.

It was already 10 p.m., and Xu Lin and his group came out of the private cinema and found a place to eat.

Shortly after midnight, the two finally returned home.

Since the two had already showered, all they had to do upon returning was brush their teeth, rinse their mouths, and wash their faces.

Inside the gaming room, Rong Xiyan was lying on the bed playing on her phone. Wearing only underwear, her long legs swayed freely. Having been satisfied today, she was in an exceptionally good mood and was fiddling with her new phone on the bed.

Xu Lin logged into his work account on the computer.

Two days later, the data feedback results for Liu Yang and the other eight people's songs were already quite clear.

All eight of them released their songs on QQ Music.

There's a chart called the Peak Trend Chart, which has 300 songs, all of which are currently the most popular songs on the platform. It's updated every hour.

Liu Yang and his group of eight all made it into the top fifteen of this list.

In Xu Lin's view, this result was obviously very good, because the eight of them were not particularly skilled, as they were only amateurs. Furthermore, although Xu Lin had trained them recently, only half a month had passed. They had made progress, but not much, because half a month was obviously not enough.

Of the eight people, who is number one?
It's not the folk song "Grandma," but another song.

Yao Fangqian, the soprano, ranked first, while Xu Zilong's "Grandma" ranked third among the eight.

"The soprano is ranked first."

Xu Lin hadn't expected this.

In addition, Yao Fangqian ranked second on the entire list, just one step away from the first place.

However, this list only includes recently popular songs, not necessarily the most popular song on the entire platform.

"They've already made it into the top 15, so is it possible for them to break into the top 10?"

Xu Lin then opened other lists to look at.

Furthermore, only two days have passed, and Xu Lin feels that it can continue to ferment for a while.

(End of this chapter)